Mrs. John Adams felt that "if we mean to have heroes, statesmen and
philosophers, we should have learned women." Stuart's portrait, begun when
the first lady was fifty-six, captures the patrician beauty of her
straight nose and arched brows. The forthright painting also leaves little
doubt about the force of character, intellect, and principles of this
daughter of a Massachusetts minister.

This likeness was Stuart's only completed picture of Abigail Smith
Adams. It and its companion piece of her husband,
John Adams, were started
in 1800 but not delivered until 1815. The Adams' eldest son and the future
sixth president, John Quincy Adams, politely stated his family's attitude
toward the artist's procrastination: "Mr. Stuart thinks it the prerogative
of genius to disdain the performance of his engagements."